Strange Symptoms and Equivocal IGG Results

[srpnt]

Hi Terri!

I’m 22 years old, and I had a single unprotected sexual encounter a little over 12 weeks ago. A few days after I started to experience strange vaginal symptoms which alarmed me because I rarely ever had any vaginal issues before then, so I thought I had caught something and went down a rabbit hole which made me suspicious of an HSV infection. I also found out that my demographic has a high infection rate, which worried me. I went to urgent care a few days after and got an exam, the doctor saw nothing abnormal but yeast. I was prescribed diflucan and my symptoms went away almost completely within 24 hours. For the past 3 months though, I have been experiencing consistent vaginal issues that seem to align with my sexual encounter 12 weeks ago. It seems that I have been having recurrent yeast infections, but nothing that I can specifically attribute to HSV (no visible lesions or bumps, no swollen lymph nodes, nothing particularly itchy or painful, just general discomfort and yeasty discharge). After a ton of research I do believe that I am experiencing systemic candida overgrowth, which aligns with many symptoms I’ve been experiencing even before the encounter (GI issues, and now recurrent yeast infections, blurry vision, body aches, etc).

I waited exactly 12 weeks post potential exposure and got a full panel blood test. I tested negative for everything EXCEPT HSV. I tested equivocal (IGG test) for HSV1 at 1.02 and HSV2 at 1.07. What is the likelihood that I am HSV+? And is it worth it to wait and take another IGG test since I already waited 12 weeks for the first one and got inconclusive results?

Thank you! And Happy Holidays!

[Terri Warren]

I think if you were going to be positive, you would not have an equivocal antibody result. And I doubt that another IgG test is going to provide more clarity after waiting this long. Nothing you have described here worries me that you have herpes, but if you want better answers, you could do the western blot. What do you think?

Terri

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